Art of Music – Artist Bio

Adnan Hussain was raised in both the U.S. and Pakistan. A childhood of writing stories lead to studying Computer Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design. After graduation, he relocated to Los Angeles to work in Visual Effects and Animation at studios such as Walt Disney Feature Animation and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Along side work on feature films, he works under his company Mad Guru, to create animated films and projects designed to provoke thought and bring diverse people together.

Hussain’s work deals with human rights. His 2009 animated short film Gul was an innovative painterly computer animation which dealt with the subject of family conflict. It won several international awards, and screened at Slamdance, Patios Human Rights Festival, Tehran International Animation Festival, Anim’Est and Mill Valley, among other festivals. The musical score featured an original recording by the Girnari Jogi Group, which was later used to crowd fund an entire album for the group when they lost their homes to floods in Pakistan. In addition, the short film Gul was recently adapted into a bilingual, English and Urdu language graphic novel for the iPad.

This combination of creating pieces that showcase rich culture and creative uses of mediums alongside serving social causes and benefiting artists is the work philosophy of Hussain’s company, Mad Guru.